Tag Archives: design

It would seem that the majority of us now spend on average around 70% of our time at work in a seated position at the desk, so it’s important that we are sitting comfortably…

Unsuitable office seating can cause people to adopt awkward postures, which in turn can then start to lead to discomfort and back pains. This kind of discomfort and pain can then prove costly to employers in the form of staff absences, lost production and in the more extreme cases potential injury claims!

At Thuja Design we believe it is essential that your office seating is suited to the individual user and not just making it a generalization. When coming to picking the correct seating time, care and attention should be taken when choosing the right office chair. Research shows that the more comfortable you and your staff are, the more productive you are likely to be in the working environment…

Office chairs should be adjustable to suit each individual user, for example; the backrest should be able to be adjusted to support both the upper and lower back in all sitting positions, and when sitting, feet should be able to rest flat on the floor.

Here at Thuja Design we have access to a large range of office seating from the leading manufacturers. We have a vast amount of seating choices in our library and will always do our best to choose the best chair for you. But choosing an office chair isn’t simply a case of flicking open a brochure or website page, which is why we offer our services to help you make that decision in choosing the right chair for you. So if you want to see how we can help you create the correct office environment and the perfect seating for your needs then visit us at www.thujadesign.com

So what do you believe is more important in the work place, the design or the function?

A common debate in the work place seems to be whether design takes over function in most modern offices today? It would seem that way at first glance when looking at the likes of Google, Toms, dropbox and many more where there are obvious elements of fun design in there offices. Google for instance have slides in several of the offices from floor to floor, but what actual purpose do such objects play in the work environment apart from making you feel like a child again as you wiz your way down?

Well that’s a good question, although at first it may seem all a bit silly and misleading, but such creative environments in the work place are proven to actually increase the potential of the work force. A colleague is most creative when happy, but also has surroundings that are inspiring to feed their creative minds.

But it’s all well and good having a pretty work place that you can show off but it does in the end of a day have to serve a purpose and that is to produce work, so there does have to be functionality as well. It’s a good idea to find a happy medium and balance between the two to get the best of both worlds. As in life a happy medium is always a good rule of thumb as cheesy as that may sound.

Each agency will have different needs in the work place but as long as its designed to function correctly and provides the staff with inspiration and the motivation required then that’s pretty much a job well done. If you mix the correct amount of style and function then it will perfectly allow you to focus and deliver work that needs high levels of concentration but with the added bonus of being able to escape the screen and crash out in relaxing zone as you rewire your brain ready to go again.

Culina Logistics is the leading provider of high quality logistics services for food and drink companies in the UK, and called upon Thuja Design to help them do a refurbishment of their 212,000 sq ft refrigerated distribution centre and 11,500 sq ft of office space. The areas that benefited most from Thuja Design’s skills included a staff canteen, training room, board room and reception waiting area. They also designed differing specification for office and factory toilets.

The colour scheme was based around the corporate colours of Culina Logistics, using hints of bright orange and blue throughout the carpet, tiling and storagewall.

The office areas required a higher finish than the works area, which would have a heavy footfall. Therefor the design for the works was practical and heavy duty whilst still maintaining colour and personality.

Culina Logistics has also comission Thuja Design to create a bespoke artwork package, including an impressive acrylic installation in reception and a graphic wallpaper in the canteen. This should be completed in August.

Ad agencies are well-known for being a hot bed of creativity and the new offices of JWT Amsterdam perfectly reflect that. Housed inside a former department store building in one of Amsterdam’s hottest neighborhoods, the new space is now open for some seriously surprising business, thanks to design director Alrik Koudenburg and designer/artist, RJW Elsinga.

A rear of a small inner city Melbourne pub has been transformed from a tiny add-on back extension into a voyeuristic playground by Techne Architects. The clever rethinking of the space has effectively turned the 130m2 back area of The Prahran Hotel into 300m2 over three levels. The star of the design is a series of 17 ½ concrete waterpipes. These concrete culverts dominate the striking street façade. For architect Justin Northrop, the pipes add a lot more than drama to the hotel’s exterior. “Inside you are climbing over the pipes, sitting in them, or on them at various levels. They have a lasting impact on the space.”

Booths can be seen from the street, and throughout the interior of the hotel. Each booth, that seats up to 12, features leather upholstered banquettes and is lined with recycled spotted gum slats and acoustic absorption mats.

Thuja Design has recently completed a full design package for Wolverhampton’s most modern factory. Moog Aircraft Group moved into the purpose-built £20 million plant on the city’s i54 development site last summer, but Thuja have continued to work at the Wolverhampton site that produces components for primary and secondary flight control systems and forms part of a $2.5 billion global hi-tech engineering group based in East Aurora, USA.

The development of modern aircraft requires a world leading test and development facility, such as is contained at Wolverhampton. Thuja Design were appointed to create interiors to match this ethos. The facility required total internal space planning and Thuja’s brief included specifications for all internal finishes, fixtures and fittings. The comprehensive scheme included designs for the impressive two storey reception area and included a bespoke reception desk and artwork displaying the range of Moogs civil and military contracts . They were also responsible for the design of the open plan canteen, internet bar and client lounge.

The total scheme also included nearly 60,000 sq feet of office space and incorporated a conference facility, meeting rooms, cellular offices, breakout zones and welfare facilities.

It’s strange that when one changes there view or angle of an object, in this case a piece of architecture, it gives us a whole new outlook and perspective. It turns something from an everyday piece or architecture into something more beautiful with a slight degree of art to it. Concrete is usually seen as a very dull and bland material used in the city but in the instance it is far from it, showing images of how concrete can actually create a beautiful foreground to the larger picture.

This billowing roof sits, in the words of the architect, ‘floating above the site like slowly drifting clouds.’ Its gentle, calming undulations give the building a subtle presence, entirely appropriate to its role as a crematorium.

LOS MANANTIALES RESTAURANT, MEXICO CITY, 1958, FÉLIX CANDELA

Preferring form to mass, Candela used four thin hyperbolic parabolas to strengthen the combined wall and ceiling of the building.

SALK INSTITUE

One of the most highly regarded scientific research centres in the world, the Salk Institute sits on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Founder Jonas Salk aimed to create an environment that would entice the best researchers from around the world. Kahn helped him to choose the site and created something approaching a secular monastery for science.

TWA FLIGHT CENTER, NEW YORK, 1962, EERO SAARINEN

Briefed to ‘capture the spirit of flight,’ Saarinen created a building of such futuristic virtuosity that it still looks modern 50 years on. … Reinforced concrete embeds a grid of steel rods. In a slab this is a bit like oversized chicken wire and enables gentle rolling curves like those seen here.

Have you ever wondered what happens to most derelict buildings or forgotten about structures? Well, some of these formations turn from beastly things into beautiful objects. The outcome from the combination of man and nature can be pretty spectacular sometimes creating something more stunning than intended.

The Kerry Way walking path between Sneem and Kenmare in Ireland

Abandoned dome houses in Southwest Florida

The remains of the SS Ayrfield in Homebush Bay, Australia

Fishing hut on a lake in Germany

Abandoned city of Keelung, Taiwan

Cooling tower of an abandoned power plant

Just goes to show there can be beauty found in everything from derelict architecture to forgotten about place’s in time.